Showing Out — Timothy Reed

Tiffany works in Peeps Castle, keeping her coked-up boyfriend in drugs, her crazy mother off the streets, and her vulnerable friends together as best she can in this unblinkingly powerful debut by Timothy Reed. From the depths of abuse and neglect to the ironic stability of her lucrative job performing in a glassed-in booth on 42nd Street, Tiffany, still haunted by the voices of her “swine chorus,” is at the center of Showing Out, the story of a young woman and several of her co-workers. From her close friend, the birdlike Melanie who's been in the flesh trade since she was thirteen years old, to the obnoxious transvestite Meeca, Showing Out paints indelible portraits of a handful of courageous fellow performers as they try to deal with their own love lives, drugs, AIDS, and the work. Punctuated by Tiffany's memories of a childhood that included sexual abuse, an alcoholic mother, and an absent father, Showing Out tracks Tiffany's struggle to move beyond her current life at the old Times Square -- and Peeps Castle with it -- juggernauts to its own end. Written by the daughter of renowned novelist Ishmael Reed, Showing Out is raw, real, and by turns hilarious and harrowing.